President Trump was asked by “60 Minutes” Leslie Stahl about Hurricane Florence: He said:

“I don’t know that it’s manmade. I will say this: I don’t want to give trillions and trillions of dollars. I don’t want to lose millions and millions of jobs.” … “I’m not denying climate change,” he said in the interview. “But it could very well go back. You know, we’re talking about over a … millions of years.”

“They say that we had hurricanes that were far worse than what we just had with Michael,” said Trump, who identified “they” as “people” after being pressed by “60 Minutes” correspondent Leslie Stahl. She asked, “What about the scientists who say it’s worse than ever?” the president replied, “You’d have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agenda.

Well, you can imagine the outcry, Charles Schumer, distinguished Minority Leader of the United States Senate: “If we would do more on climate change, we’d have fewer of these hurricanes and other types of storms. Everyone knows that, except a few.” He added that The Trump administration has done nothing but “move the issue backward.” Sorry, Senator. The president was actually scientifically, politically, and economically correct. Hurricanes are a natural phenomenon, unrelated to climate change.

“There is no trend in either intensity or frequency of hurricane strikes over the last 118 years. They have nothing to do with so called climate change. Out of the top 10 warmest Gulf of Mexico years since 1860, 7 occurred before 1970, which is before we experienced any significant warming”, according to Dr. Roy Spencer.

“So, all the “experts” can do is make vague claims about how major hurricanes like Michael are what we can expect more of in a warming world, but the data show that – so far at least – the data do not support the theory.”

The damage from Michael and Florence has been extensive, and to see so many houses flattened or disappeared is simply tragic, and the victims have our deepest sympathy. Federal aid and food and water start flowing in as rapidly as possible.

The Earth has been warming and cooling for millions of years “Global Warming” refers to the global-average temperature increase that has been observed over the last one hundred years or more. But to many politicians and the public, the term carries the implication that mankind is responsible for that warning. This website describes evidence from my group’s government-funded research that suggests global warming is mostly natural, and that the climate system is quite insensitive to humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions and aerosol pollution.

Believe it or not, very little research has ever been funded to search for natural mechanisms of warming…it has simply been assumed that global warming is manmade. This assumption is rather easy for scientists since we do not have enough accurate global data for a long enough period of time to see whether there are natural warming mechanisms at work. …

But first let’s examine the basics of why so many scientists think global warming is manmade. Earth’s atmosphere contains natural greenhouse gases (mostly water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane) which act to keep the lower layers of the atmosphere warmer than they otherwise would be without those gases. Greenhouse gases trap infrared radiation — the radiant heat energy that the Earth naturally emits to outer space in response to solar heating. Mankind’s burning of fossil fuels (mostly coal, petroleum, and natural gas) releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and this is believed to be enhancing the Earth’s natural greenhouse effect. As of 2008, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was about 40% to 45% higher than it was before the start of the industrial revolution in the 1800’s. (Do read the whole thing, not long)

The President is visiting Florida and Georgia today, and the first responders and volunteers are working in a massive Federal response:

Here’s a look at that response, by the numbers:

A major on-the-ground operation: More than 16,000 Federal employees, including over 8,000 military personnel, have been deployed.

Search-and-rescue efforts underway: FEMA, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the National Guard are working alongside state responders and volunteers. As of this morning, they have completed 110 evacuations, 4,193 rescues/assists, 15,287 shelter-in-place checks, 128 animal assists, and 16,827 structural assessments.

Power restoration a top priority: More than 35,000 utility workers from 26 states are working to bring power back to impacted areas.

Food and water distribution: In Florida, FEMA has provided 715,000 meals and 1.5 million liters of water per day. FEMA has also transferred more than 350,000 meals to Georgia, and 30+ distribution sites are being supported.

The response to Hurricane Michael is continuing. Thousands of industry workers are restoring power and volunteers are serving hot meals and providing shelter and comfort. Over the weekend the president issued a major disaster declaration for Georgia, and additional disaster assistance for Florida. FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistance teams are knocking on door to help families register for assistance.The President has called for maximum relief. When asked about his biggest priority for the trip, he said “Just making sure everyone is safe and that they’re fed.”

A suspect named Jarrod Ramos was identified as the shooter who killed five journalists on Thursday at Maryland’s The Capital-Gazette newspaper. As soon as news of the shooting appeared, journalists were blaming President Trump. Apparently calling the press “fake news” and suggesting that inaccurate news is harmful to the country means he is responsible for someone killing five journalists. This is why they get called “fake news.”

Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security advisor famously said that journalists were easy—they were 28 years old and didn’t know anything. As I mentioned a new Axios/SurveyMonkeyPoll asked ‘How often do you think news sources report news they know to be fake, false or purposely misleading? Democrats 53%, Independents 79%, GOP 92%. That should be a huge wake-up call to the journalist profession. Won’t happen.

The suspect had a long standing issue with the newspaper, going back years, long before Donald Trump ran for office. How interesting that supposedly unbiased “journalists” would instantly assume that it was Trump’s fault. Or that it would be assumed that Trump was ripping little children from the arms of their mothers, or that Trump was banning travel from Muslim countries because of racist prejudice against Muslims, or that the Wall on the Southern border was a racist effort to keep brown people from Mexico out of the country. So why would anyone think that “fake news” is a problem?

Davos, where the politically significant and beautiful go to meet and greet. It is the World Economic Forum, a Swiss nonprofit foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Forum engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. …

The Forum strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance. Moral and intellectual integrity is at the heart of everything it does….

Our activities are shaped by a unique institutional culture founded on the stakeholder theory, which asserts that an organization is accountable to all parts of society. The institution carefully blends and balances the best of many kinds of organizations, from both the public and private sectors, international organizations and academic institutions.

“I’m here to deliver a simple message: There has never been a better time to hire, to build, to invest and to grow in the United States,” Trump declared. “America is open for business and we are competitive once again.”

The president backed up this statement by remarking on signs of a strong economy. He mentioned the stock market “smashing one record after another,” and adding more than $7 trillion in new wealth since his election. “Consumer confidence, business confidence, and manufacturing confidence are the highest that they have been in many decades.”

Trump also touted the 2.4 million jobs created since his election, and argued that small business optimism is at an all-time high. “New unemployment claims are near the lowest we’ve seen in almost half a century,” he declared.

Perhaps most positively, the president noted that “African American unemployment reached the lowest rate ever recorded in the United States and so has unemployment among Hispanic Americans.”

The American economy is important to the world, and when we are doing well, most of the rest of the world is too, for America is a huge market as well, and when we’re doing well, we buy more of the world’s stuff. Teresa May’s speech was interrupted when the presidential helicopter arrived and the crowd rushed out to see.

As far as activists go, Al Gore was there to tell the rest of the world that the Earth is dying, and we only have a little time to save it, but the news keeps messing up his message. A new study in the prestigious journal Naturefinds that if CO2 in the atmosphere actually doubled, global temperature would climb at most by 3.4 degrees Celsius. Far below what the UN has been claiming.

The scientists found that the planet just isn’t as sensitive to changes in the CO2 level as they thought. Projected temperature increases have been too high. Oops! All the disaster predictions were much higher temperature increases than that. Al Gore’s doomsday predictions are bunk. On the same day the Nature study was published, NASA released its latest report on temperature, so the New York Times put the NASA study on their front page, and ignored the Nature study entirely. Of course they did. Climate scientists are now suing critics who challenge “Settled Science” (which is what their computers say).

Despite all you have heard, Global Warming is not killing the polar bears, they are multiplying happily. It’s not burning up California (you have to clear out dry, dead brush) and it doesn’t cause hurricanes either. And Governors who want to install carbon taxes, will accomplish nothing, except make your people angry, and yourself a one-term governor.

I saw another article just today claiming that the President’s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity was a Republican attempt to prevent people of color from voting. One should expect that from the crowd that attacks whatever Republicans say or do with shrieks of “Racist,””Sexist,” etc. etc.They were incensed when the President suggested that there was some vote fraud, denied that any such thing could happen, but of course Trump was right.

His commission was designed to assure that every vote counts, but doesn’t count twice. Progressives resist any such investigation.

It appears that worldwide publicity and public outcry have had an effect on the sad case of Great Ormond Street Hospital and the baby Charlie Gard. Seven medical experts have suggested that unpublished data showed therapy could improve the 11-month-old’s brain condition. The High Court said previously that it was unlikely a U.S. doctor offering to treat Charlie would be able to cure him. The Great Ormond Street Hospital has said it would “explore” the data. The case will be heard on Monday by Mr. Justice Francis.

According to the previous High Court ruling GOSH is forbidden from allowing Charlie to be transferred for nucleoside therapy anywhere.

Charlie has mitochondrial depletion syndrome, a rare genetic condition which affects the cells responsible for energy production and respiration and has left him unable to move or breathe without a ventilator.

The parents have raised £1.3 million on a crowdfunding site to pay for the experimental therapy. Public attitudes may have been different if the cost was to be borne by taxpayers, but it has seemed to many that it’s not something for a court to decide if the parents can pay, even if it should prove to be futile. It’s the hospital and the High Court that have so enraged people around the world.

Well this is indeed interesting. Following up on the claims of contacts with the Russian ambassador, or Russians in general by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and/or the Trump campaign—which were quickly exposed as silly, since it was the Obama State Department that arranged the meeting with the ambassador, and it turns out that all 100 of the senators met with the Russian ambassador. Clearly evil. Then Democrat leaders who were expressing their dismay at Sessions contacts with the Russian ambassador were not only shown to have met with Russians, but pictures quickly appeared showing Vladimir Putin and Chuck Schumer together, and Nancy Pelosi sitting across the table from the ambassador she swore she had never met.

Democrats were still trying to figure out whether they had destroyed Jeff Sessions, who they are quite sure is a racist, but then it turns out the adorable little biracial child he was holding on his lap at his swearing in ceremony is his granddaughter. Obviously a bigot.

Next came the outraged tweet from President Trump asserting that the Obama Administration had wiretapped the Trump Tower campaign headquarters during the campaign. That’s getting serious. A spokesman for the Obama White House made it very clear that no one in the White House had ordered a wiretap. Which was a totally waffling response. Only a judge can order a FISA wiretap, and you don’t order a judge to do it. Asking somehow wasn’t mentioned, so it all remains a mystery, doesn’t it?

I’m not sure what all the sudden interest in the Russians is. Everybody has met with the Russian ambassador, and he has been to the White House (Obama’s White House) many times, I think the number was 22, but that may not be correct. I guess they must be trying to prove that Russian interference cost Hillary the election, but that completely ignores the problem that no one could think of an accomplishment from Hillary’s travels as Secretary of State aside from her travel miles. Democrats insisted that Hillary’s emails and private server, which was open to any and all foreign hackers weren’t anything important, but then they found out that as governor of Indiana, Mike Pence had used his private email account to discuss state business, but it turned out that there is no law against Gov. Pence using a private email. And the Associated Press published the Governor’s wife’s email address, for which Vice President Pence has demanded, rightfully, an apology.

Sounds a lot more like a potential soap-opera script than a couple of days in the leading nation of the free world, but there you go.